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There is an urgent need for the development, validation and implementation of a rapid, sensitive, cost effective method for biological and chemical contaminant analysis in agricultural food products. The objectives are to join the resources and expertise of FSL and ChemImage to evaluate various agricultural commodities with chemical and biological contaminants, and to build, test, and refine Raman spectroscopic-based portable commercial inspection systems for detection/identification of chemical and biological contamination. Future detection of intentional tainting that affects the safety and security of foods and feeds can be enhanced by making a rapid sensing method and device readily available. Additional objective is to develop and utilize a referential database of chemical and biological contaminants.
APPROACH: Raman spectroscopic techniques have tremendous potential in food safety and security as a rapid, nondestructive detection and identification method for chemical and biological contamination. Conventional Raman systems are relatively large and are not suitable to use in situ or in field. Various agricultural commodities along with known chemical and biological contaminants that affect safety and security of animal and humane foods will be tested to (1) develop detection and identification methods, (2) design and develop prototype portable Raman systems, (3) field-test the system for a prolong period time, and (4) develop commercial systems.